Sacramento -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday that congressional lawmakers need to maintain the nation's balance of power by being able to compromise. He expressed concerns that the high court is increasingly the venue for deciding politically charged issues such as gay marriage, health care and immigration.

Kennedy, a former Sacramento law school professor, was asked by reporters whether he thought the court was deciding too many issues that can be decided by Congress.

"I think it's a serious problem. A democracy should not be dependent for its major decisions on what nine unelected people from a narrow legal background have to say," Kennedy said. "And I think it's of tremendous importance for our political system to show the rest of the world - and we have to show ourselves first - that democracy works because we can reach agreement on a principle basis."

He made his remarks during a visit to the state capital for the dedication of a library bearing his name in the downtown federal courthouse.

The associate justice appointed by President Ronald Reagan has often been the swing vote on split decisions. He said he's concerned that too many decisions of social and political importance are being shifted to the high court, particularly in an era of "litigation explosion."

Kennedy, 76, dissented in the momentous 5-4 decision last year that upheld the heart of President Obama's health care overhaul, he wrote the Citizens United opinion saying that corporations can pay for political ads.